Inglenook, Napa Valley

 When in 1975 Francis Coppola went in search of a summer home to escape the hustle of the film industry, somewhere to enjoy some downtime with his family and make a little wine, he did not expect to become part of one of Napa’s greatest stories. The property he had stumbled upon that day and that left him transfixed was Inglenook Estate, one of the oldest properties in Napa and steeped in history.

 Gustav Niebaum was a young Finnish sea-captain who had amassed a sizable fortune from the Alaskan fur trade since his arrival in San Francisco in 1868. He harboured a dream of returning to Europe and buying a grand Château in Bordeaux, but following his marriage to the daughter of a well known San Franciscan family and her reticence to move from America, he started to consider a more local alternative. In 1880 Gustav bought the 78 acres of Ingelnook together with another 124 acres of neighbouring farmland for $44,000 – the starting point in his plans to create wines sought after by connoisseurs from around the world. By his death in 1908, he had achieved this aim with Inglenook wines being lauded by the press both at home and internationally.

 In spite of closure during the prohibition years Inglenook continued to make some of the world’s greatest wines, indeed the famous 1941Inglenook Cabernet was much later included in a list of the ten greatest wines ever by Decanter Magazine. Sadly following the death of Niebaum’s grand-nephew the property fell upon hard times and following a number of new owners the Inglenook name was lost to the property and a number of the vineyard blocks were sold off.

 When Francis Coppola took on the property he bought much more than a mere summerhouse, indeed his passion for the Inglenook story over the years has gradually led to him reuniting all the lost parcels of vineyard, re-creating once more the original estate. The final piece of the puzzle is the Inglenook name which was purchased earlier this year.

 We believe strongly that Inglenook will once again take its place amongst the greatest wines in the world and we look forward to sharing this wonderful project with you.